This paper describes a strategy for a general search used by the ATLAS Collaboration to find potential indications of new physics. Events are classified according to their final state into many event classes. For each event class an automated search algorithm tests whether the data are compatible with the Monte Carlo simulated expectation in several distributions sensitive to the effects of new physics. The significance of a deviation is quantified using pseudo-experiments. A data selection with a significant deviation defines a signal region for a dedicated follow-up analysis with an improved background expectation. The analysis of the data-derived signal regions on a new dataset allows a statistical interpretation without the large look-elsewhere effect. The sensitivity of the approach is discussed using Standard Model processes and benchmark signals of new physics. As an example, results are shown for 3.2fb-1 of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2015, in which more than 700 event classes and more than 105 regions have been analysed. No significant deviations are found and consequently no data-derived signal regions for a follow-up analysis have been defined.

The ATLAS detector at the LHC recorded 0.49 nb(-1) of Pb+Pb collisions and 25 of pp(-1) collisions, both at the center-of-mass energy 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair. Recently, ATLAS also recorded 30 mu b(-1) of Xe+Xe collisions at the center-of-mass energy 5.44 TeV, which provides a new opportunity to study the system-size dependence of the charged-hadron production in heavy-ion collisions. The large acceptance of the ATLAS detector allows to measure the spectra of charged hadrons in a wide range of pseudorapidity and transverse momentum. The nuclear modification factors R-AA are constructed as a ratio of the spectra measured in Pb+Pb or Xe+Xe collisions to that measured in pp collisions. The R-AA obtained in the two systems are presented for different centrality intervals and the results are discussed.

Correlations of two flow harmonics v(n) and v(m) via three- and four-particle cumulants are measured in 13 TeV pp, 5.02 TeV p+Pb, and 2.76 TeV peripheral Pb+Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The goal is to understand the multi-particle nature of the long-range collective phenomenon in these collision systems. The large non-flow background from dijet production present in the standard cumulant method is suppressed using a method of subevent cumulants involving two, three and four subevents separated in pseudorapidity. The results show a negative correlation between v(2) and v(3) and a positive correlation between v(2) and v(4) for all collision systems and over the full multiplicity range. However, the magnitudes of the correlations are found to depend on the event multiplicity, the choice of transverse momentum range and collision system. The relative correlation strength, obtained by normalisation of the cumulants with the < v(n)(2)> from a two-particle correlation analysis, is similar in the three collision systems and depends weakly on the event multiplicity and transverse momentum. These results based on the subevent methods provide strong evidence of a similar long-range multi-particle collectivity in pp, p+Pb and peripheral Pb+Pb collisions. Elsevier B.V.

Electromagnetic processes, both photon-photon and photon-nucleus, are shown to be useful in studying aspects of QED, QCD, and potentially the QGP. Using lead-lead collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV, the ATLAS detector has performed measurements of exclusive dimuon production, light-by-light scattering (via exclusive diphoton production), and photo-nuclear dijet production. These are all important examples of ultraperipheral collisions, where the nuclei do not interact hadronically. A recent study of the opening angles of dimuons produced in hadronic heavy-ion collisions, after subtracting heavy-flavor backgrounds, demonstrates that the dimuons carry information correlated with the overlap geometry, potentially about the density of charges in the QGP itself.

Measurements of isolated prompt photon and massive electroweak (W and Z) boson production in different collision systems are of great interest to understand the partonic structure of heavy nuclei, and serve as a constraint on the initial state in larger collision systems. These channels are sensitive to a variety of effects such as the modification of the parton densities in nuclei in certain kinematic regions, and the energy loss of partons as they undergo multiple interactions in the nucleus before the hard parton-parton scattering. High-statistics samples of lead-lead and proton-lead collision data at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV and 8.16 TeV, respectively, taken by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, as well as proton-proton comparison data at analogous collision energies, allow for a detailed study of these phenomena in data and comprehensive comparisons to the predictions of a variety of theoretical approaches. This paper presents the latest ATLAS results in these topics, including updated results on inclusive prompt photon production in proton-lead collisions over a broad kinematic range and high-precision W boson results in lead lead collisions.

Measurements of four-particle cumulants c(n){4} for n = 1, 2, 3, 4 are presented using 470 mu b(-1) of Pb+Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. These cumulants provide information on the event-by-event fluctuations of single harmonics p(v(n)). For the first time, a negative c(1){4} is observed. The c(4){4} is found to be negative in central collisions but changes sign around 20-25% centrality. This behavior is consistent with a nonlinear contribution to v(4) that is proportional to v(2)(2). c(2){4} and c(3){4} are calculated using two reference event classes in order to investigate the influence of volume fluctuations. Over most of the centrality range, c(2){4} and c(3){4} are found to be negative, while in the ultra-central collisions, c(2){4} changes sign and becomes positive, suggesting a deviation from Gaussian behavior in the event-by-event fluctuation of v(2). The magnitudes of the sign change are also found to be dependent of the event class definition .

This report provides an overview of the new results obtained by the ATLAS Collaboration at the LHC, which were presented at the Quark Matter 2018 conference. These measurements were covered in 12 parallel talks, one flash talk and 11 posters. In this document, a discussion of results is grouped into four areas: electromagnetic interactions, jet quenching, quarkonia and heavy-flavour production, and collectivity in small and larger systems. Measurements from the xenon-xenon collisions based on a short run collected in October 2017 are reported for the first time.

The response of the ATLAS detector to large-radius jets is measured in situ using 36.2 fb(-1) of root s = 13TeV proton-proton collisions provided by the LHC and recorded by the ATLAS experiment during 2015 and 2016. The jet energy scale is measured in events where the jet recoils against a reference object, which can be either a calibrated photon, a reconstructed Z boson, or a system of well-measured small-radius jets. The jet energy resolution and a calibration of forward jets are derived using dijet balance measurements. The jet mass response is measured with two methods: using mass peaks formed by W bosons and top quarks with large transverse momenta and by comparing the jet mass measured using the energy deposited in the calorimeter with that using the momenta of charged-particle tracks. The transverse momentum and mass responses in simulations are found to be about 2-3% higher than in data. This difference is adjusted for with a correction factor. The results of the different methods are combined to yield a calibration over a large range of transverse momenta (p(T)). The precision of the relative jet energy scale is 1-2% for 200 GeV < p(T) < TeV, while that of the mass scale is 2-10%. The ratio of the energy resolutions in data and simulation is measured to a precision of 10-15% over the same p(T) range.

This short summary presents latest measurements of the nuclear modification factor, R-AA, for R = 0.4 jets in Pb+Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The analysis is performed over a large range of transverse momentum, up to p(T) = 1 TeV, and differentially in jet p(T), rapidity, and collision centrality. The jet R-AA is measured also differentially in the jet mass, m, which provides new information on the dependence of the energy loss on the substructure of jets. Latest results by ATLAS on the dijet momentum balance in Xe+Xe collisions at root s(NN) = 5.44 TeV are presented and compared to the same quantity measured in Pb+Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV. These recent measurements should help us understand mechanisms of parton energy loss and properties of hot and dense matter created in heavy-ion collisions.

Studies of the fragmentation of jets into charged particles in heavy-ion collisions can help in understanding the mechanism of jet quenching by the hot and dense QCD matter created in such collisions, the quark-gluon plasma. These proceedings present a measurement of the angular distribution of charged particles around the jet axis in root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV Pb+Pb and pp collisions, done using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurement is performed inside jets reconstructed with the anti-k(t) algorithm with radius parameter R = 0.4, and is extended to regions outside the jet cone. Results are presented as a function of Pb+Pb collision centrality, and both jet and charged-particle transverse momenta.